Roles of Swordsman and Ninja
by Kirarifox13
Summary: In this crossover, Naruto Namikaze and his brother Minato Namikaze team up with the Kenshin group to fight and bring peace to Japan. Old rivals and many enemies await them. Can they overcome the challenges?
1. Intro Chapter

**AN: Hey guys! It's been a couple of years since I've been on here. I have decided to once again take on the role of author for fanfictions. I'm sorry, but I won't be finishing up my first one as I don't really feel like I can make it any better now then back when I was younger. This story is a crossover between Rurouni Kenshin and Naruto. Now, I am well aware that people haven't seen or read either anime/manga, so I have come up with a solution. I will put asterisks after words I feel that need to be explained for those that either don't remember some of the events or don't know the events of the anime. I am following the storyline for Kenshin; however, I will be adding my own…flare if you will to the story as I see fit. There will be humor, tons of action, and some romance. I'll get more into the pairings as the story progresses. I hope you guys enjoy it and I will listen to constructive criticism, but not complete bashing. I won't deal with that. Sorry for my rant, but this chapter is mostly for introductions of the beginning characters, as more will be coming, and their personalities.**

Kenshin Himura: He is known as the Legendary Swordsman of the Revolution, the fight for dreams and goals between the Imperialists and the Shogunate; I believe that were the two groups. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) His known name is Battosai the Manslayer, but prefers his name Kenshin over being called the Battosai. Kenshin is very kind person who is always willing to put his life in danger for the sake of others. He is a very battle savy swordsman and uses the Hiten Mitsurigi Style( a sword style) to move at god-like speeds to annihilate his enemies, though he has made an oath to never kill again. Instead, he uses a reverse blade sword to protect the weak and those precious to him. When he fights, his personality changes a little to a serious and perceptive swordsman who is very intimidating and can read his opponents movements. Never underestimate Kenshin.

Kaoru Kamiya: She is what's left of the Kamiya Kashin Style for swords and owns a dojo. She is a very stubborn but kind person who isn't afraid to show people why she is the Assistant Master of the Kamiya Kashin Style. She has a strong mind and heart and always helps people, like Kenshin, who need it. She is currently training Yahiko Myōjin as an apprentice to the Kamiya Kashin Style. Sanosuke Segara: He is known as Sanza the fighter for hire and enjoys the thrill of fights, especially against strong opponents like Kenshin. Despite what he does for a living, Sanosuke is actually a caring person and doesn't believe in mistreating women and being mean to the weak. He is always around for good fights and loves to show his opponents his cocky smile and his quick, powerful fists. He is always aiming to become as strong as Kenshin, who he has much respect for. Sanosuke enjoys teasing people, including Kaoru and Yahiko. Yahiko Myōjin: Yahiko is an apprentice to the Kamiya Kashin Style and is the last survivor of a well known samurai family. Yahiko is as stubborn as Kaoru, if not more, and does a great deal of complaining. He usually spends his free time either training by himself or with others after he is finished with the chores of the day. He boasts about how strong he is and slowly begins to back that claim up. Yahiko is a kind, cocky person who never gives up and always tries his best, which is why Kenshin sees potential in him to become a great swordsman to protect the weak. Minato Namikaze: Minato is known as the Yellow Flash of Konoha (city not far from Tokyo) because the last thing anybody saw before they died was a yellow flash. Minato, like Kenshin, played a big part in the Revolution, causing the past to catch up with the both of them. Minato has a child-like quality to him, most likely the cause of his younger brother Naruto Namikaze. He is very kind and is always there to help people when they need it the most. He values his friends and family over everything else and will go to great lengths to protect them. Don't think you can take him just because of how he acts. In danger, Minato changes into a powerful fighter who shows his enemies why he is called the Yellow Flash. He also has made an oath to never kill again and spends most of his time teaching Naruto about his beliefs and fighting techniques. Naruto Namikaze: Naruto is the younger brother of Minato Namikaze and is known as the #1 Most Unpredictable, Knuckleheaded Ninja. He is very energetic and tends to act like a complete idiot. Naruto is stubborn and doesn't take no for an answer. He is fairly intelligent for his idioticy and is a kind-hearted person who protects people closest to him and the weak. His goofball personality gives his enemies the idea that he couldn't possibly fight, but he certainly can. When in battle, Naruto becomes more serious and lets loose his strength on unsuspecting enemies. Naruto is always looking to make friends and has huge effects on the people he meets that change their views about their way of life. Naruto's never giving up attitude shows everyone around him just how great the will to live and succeed is inside of him. Natarii Himura: Natarii is the younger sister of Kenshin Himura. She is a very shy and quiet person, who is not the greatest at making friends. Despite her shyness, Natarii is a very strong, quick fighter, who values innocent lives over hers. She is a kind-hearted person; she will help anyone in need just like her older brother. Natarii is very intelligent and has knack for thinking up battle plans in the heat of the battle. Natarii has many secrets buried deep inside her that may create problems for her in the future.


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi guys! This is the first chapter of my story. Hope you enjoy it and reviews are much appreciated!**

Thoughts are the same as narration unless in mental conversations

'Mental Convos'

**Tailed beasts speaking**

It was a bright, sunny day in Tokyo as two yellow haired, blue eyed siblings walked through the streets, their destination none other than a dojo. Both attracted much attention, considering their hair is yellow and they were both good to look at. Passersbys and people standing around recognized the older sibling of the two as someone to be feared. The boys walked at a relaxed place, blinding smiles plastered upon their faces, causing every girl and woman in the area to blush, giggle, and squeal. Their looks turned out to become more of a curse than a blessing as a horde of screaming girls proceeded to chase them through Tokyo. The oldest brother had enough; he grabbed the collar of the younger brother and disappeared from the mob in a yellow blur. The girls, confused, went back to their own lives, thinking about ways to earn attention from the blondes. The boys had ended up in a pretty big tub filled with soapy water, with the younger on top of the older. The siblings hopped out of the tub and began to shake themselves off. The water caused their hair to become puffy, earning laughs from each other as they looked at the others puffy hair. The siblings stopped when they felt many pairs of eyes on them. The boys turned around to come face to face with the Kenshin group. At the head of the group were two individuals with red hair and violet eyes that stared into the blue eyed, yellow haired siblings. The younger owner of the violet eyes studied the two strangers with much interest. The one to her left was the older one of the two. He looked to be as old as her brother. This man wore a long sleeve blue shirt and blue pants along with blue sandals and a white coat that had red flames adorning the bottom. She inferred there was something written on the back that she couldn't see. Violet eyes shifted to the younger blonde and he gulped as her intense eyes stared into his blue ones. This one was wearing a black head band on his forehead, very similar to Sanosuke's and a orange and black jacket, some orange pants and black sandals. He gave her a friendly smile, which she gave no response to. The red head became frightened when the older one focused his piercing blue eyes on her. Her red hair was pulled into a high ponytail and her bangs, along with a few strands of hair on each side of her head was left untouched. She had on a black jacket with black fingerless gloves, black shorts, and black sandals. On the jacket and shorts were orange swirls that were scattered across the clothing. Her body was mostly covered by the older red head's and the siblings came to the conclusion she was pretty shy. Next came the older sibling; his red hair was also pulled into a ponytail with his bangs hanging around his face freely. He was wearing a simple, light purple kimono with white pants and a sword in its sheath hanging under his obi*. He also was wearing a beat-up pair of sandals. On the left side of his face was a cross-shaped scar, and his purple eyes were as piercing as the older blonde's. The older siblings of the four broke into smiles and started to shake hands.

The older red-head assured the group. "It's alright guys. This here is one of my good friends from the Revolution, Minato Namikaze, better known as the Yellow Flash of Konoha*." The group gasped and stared in amazement at Minato.

"Kenshin, it's good to see you after all this time. The young man standing next to me is my younger brother Naruto Namikaze, Konoha's # 1 Most Unpredictable, Knuckleheaded Ninja. Who would all these nice people behind you be?" Minato asked. The Namikaze siblings studied each and every single person that introduced themselves.

"Hello, my name is Kaoru Kamiya," a blue-haired, blue-eyed woman announced. She had her hair pulled back into a high ponytail, was wearing a white training outfit with sandals, and a wooden sword was in her hands.

"Hey, name's Sanosuke Segara, also known as Sanza, the fighter for hire," stated a brown-haired, brown eyed man. He wore a red headband on his forehead that kept his spiky, broom head hairstyle in place except for bangs that hang over the headband. He had on a white jacket, white pants with bandages underneath the jacket and pants with black shoes. Sanosuke smiled with pride and confidence.

"Hi, my name is Yahiko Myōjin!" exclaimed a spiky brown-haired, brown eyed boy that reminded Minato of a younger Naruto and reminded Naruto of one his best friends he left back in Konoha. Yahiko wore a brown kimono of sorts, with brown pants, sandals, and held a wooden practice sword. Yahiko's smile matched Sanosuke's almost perfectly.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Natarii Himura," Natarii spoke in a soft, quiet voice. She watched the Namikaze brothers cautiously and curiously, especially Minato.

"Pleasure to meet you all. My name is Minato Namikaze, also known as the Yellow Flash of Konoha; I'm Naruto Namikaze and I'm going to become the strongest person in Japan!" introduced the Namikaze brothers. Everybody smiled at Naruto's confident grin, causing him to rub the back of head sheepishly, a small blush appearing on his cheeks. After the introductions were complete, Kenshin and Minato walked away from the group as they entered into a huge conversation about what the other had been doing for the past 10 years. The rest of the Kenshin group continued to their respective areas to finish their activities, leaving Naruto and Natarii alone with each other. Natarii sat down on the porch, took out her drawing book, began drawing, and hummed quietly to herself. She expected Naruto to follow after Kenshin and Minato, so she was pretty surprised to find him sit down next to her. He didn't talk or make any indication of wanting to, just watched her as she drew. He noticed she was drawing him and he started chuckling. Natarii turned to see Naruto give her one of his bright smiles; she quickly looked down, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

"Are you completely dry, Naruto?" asked Natarii, trying to keep up her new found courage.

"Yea, pretty much," he replied.

"Why are you guys here?"

"Not quite sure. I think Minato-nii said something about wanting to help a good friend of his, Kenshin Himura. What I didn't know is that Kenshin has a kind, quiet, but most of all cute little sister," he responded with a wink. Natarii smiled and lightly punched Naruto in the arm. He winced in mock hurt, pretending to rub his "injured" arm.

"What is your fighting style, Naruto? I know you must have one, considering your brother is the Yellow Flash."

"I could tell you or I could show you. Which one do you prefer?" Naruto challenged as he began to crack his knuckles and gave Natarii a bring-it-on-grin. Natarii accepted the challenge with a nod; she led Naruto in the direction Minato and Kenshin went, leading them to the back yard of the dojo. The duo found their older brothers sitting on a bench in deep conversation and didn't happen to notice Natarii and Naruto get into their fighting stances. Kenshin and Minato stopped talking to watch Naruto throw a punch to Natarii's stomach that was blocked by her open palm. Natarii dodged a second punch to her face and hit the other hand with her open palm. As Naruto attempted to sweep her off her feet with his left leg, Natarii jumped and in one fluid motion, focused chakra into her hand, closed her right fist, and punched Naruto in his left cheek, sending him flying. Natarii straightened herself as Naruto jumped up, blood trickling out of his mouth. He grinned and wiped the blood off of his mouth.

"That was a pretty hard punch you threw, Rii-chan, but I'm not done yet," Naruto complimented. He put his fingers into his favorite seal and focused his chakra, but the chakra wasn't forming in his fingers. Natarii smirked and focused chakra to her eyes. Her eyes changed from violet to red and she got into her true fighting stance; left leg slightly in front of her right both bent, with both palms open, her right arm more bent than her left. Kenshin smiled from his seat on the bench and Minato watched her, curious to see her abilities. Just as Naruto realized why he couldn't form chakra in his fingers, Natarii appeared in front of him. Her red eyes focused on his body and she struck. Natarii hit every major tenketsu* in his body, closing them off as Naruto stared at her in shock and surprise. She formed all the chakra she could in her hand, making her hand glow blue with electricity flowing in and out of the chakra. She thrusted her palm into his chest and released the chakra, sending a shockwave into Naruto's body, paralyzing him. As a final attack, Natarii used chakra to enhance her kick as she kicked Naruto in the stomach, sending him flying into a tree. The three remaining people in the backyard heard bones break as Naruto slipped into unconsciousness. Natarii gasped as she focused chakra into her eyes a second time, turning them from red to gold. She could see that Naruto's ribs were broken and he was having trouble breathing, as the ribs had punctured his lungs. Just as Natarii was about to step closer to Naruto, a red glow surrounded his body, the red chakra starting to heal his broken bones and punctured lungs. Naruto's eyes opened, his blue eyes now red, his hair more ruffled, fangs protruding out of his mouth, his whiskers were more defined, and his finger nails grew longer to become claw-like*. Naruto growled at Natarii; she knew that was not her loud-mouth, goofball friend.

'**You have done well in catching my kit off guard, Aka*. Your abillities far surpassed what I expected from you. Next time we fight Hikari, you and your kitten will have a harder time defeating us!' a deep voice boomed, clearly irritated with the outcome of the battle. **Natarii winced in pain as the voice had entered her mind and talked to her and her feline partner. She nodded to a red-eyed Naruto and the red chakra dispersed, reversing all the physical changes that occurred to Naruto while leaving his ribs and lungs in perfect, working condition. Naruto opened his eyes to find Natarii crouched, inspecting him with concern. Her eyes were gold and she lightly touched his ribs. He didn't flinch and she relaxed; Naruto watched her eyes change to red and she again lightly touched him. This time, he felt a warm sensation every place she touched him; he knew she had opened his tenketsu and could feel the chakra flow through them. Naruto smiled at Natarii's cute, concentrated face as she found each tenketsu and opened them as quick as possible. Natarii smiled as she opened his last chakra point, ensuring that his chakra was now fully flowing through his body. As she met his eyes, her face fell and she quickly hopped back away from him.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, Naruto. I didn't think I hit you that hard," she apologized. Naruto smiled and helped her to her feet.

"It's fine, Natarii. You caught me off guard and I payed for it. There is nothing for you to be sorry about," Naruto replied. She nodded, still unsure of his honesty, as Kenshin and Minato joined them.

Kenshin complimented the teens. "That was a pretty interesting fight between the two of you. Nice job to the both of you." Minato agreed and Natarii noticed his eyes on her face with a curious expression.

" Natarii, what is your dōjutsu and fighting style, if you don't mind explaining," he asked.

I don't know if I should tell him or not. I mean it couldn't hurt, and Minato is one of Kenshin's good friends. She weighed the pros and cons of explaining her heritage to Minato. Could she trust her brother's friend with her family secrets?

**AN: Everything about Natarii's feline partner, Hikari , will be explained in due time. For now, just know she is as powerful as a tailed beast, more specifically the Two-Tails. Tailed beast are basically chakra demons, meaning they use chakra like humans and have huge amounts of it. The tailed beasts go from one to nine, with nine being the most powerful tailed beast and the one that contains the most chakra. After each chapter I will explain the things I have put an asterisk next to as I feel readers that haven't watched either Kenshin or Naruto that have watched the other should be explained to.**

**Obi: A belt around kimonos usually; Kenshin put his reverse blade sword between the obi and the kimono.**

**Konoha: In Naruto, this is Naruto's village and the main setting of the show. In this story, it is a city not far from Tokyo.**

**Tenketsu: These are what are known as chakra points in Naruto and will be used in this story as people can use chakra.**

**Naruto's appearance: When that red chakra flows through Naruto he goes through some physical changes as his hair becoming ruffled along with the change in eye color. This will be explained in greater detail in later chapters.**

**I am sorry for not explaining everything but the story will run better when these things are explained later in the plot. Thanks for reading and reviews are again appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: I will be reposting the first few lines of each previous chapter, so you can remember what is going on if you have forgotten. Enjoy!**

_ "I'm sorry for hurting you, Naruto. I didn't think I hit you that hard," she apologized. Naruto smiled and helped her to her feet._

_ "It's fine, Natarii. You caught me off guard and I payed for it. There is nothing for you to be sorry about," Naruto replied. She nodded, still unsure of his honesty, as Kenshin and Minato joined them._

_ Kenshin complimented the teens. "That was a pretty interesting fight between the two of you. Nice job to the both of you." Minato agreed and Natarii noticed his eyes on her face with a curious expression._

_ " Natarii, what is your __dōjutsu and fighting style, if you don't mind explaining," he asked._

_ 'I don't know if I should tell him or not. I mean it couldn't hurt, and Minato is one of Kenshin's good friends,' she thought as she weighed the pros and cons of explaining her heritage to Minato. Could she trust her brother's friend with her family secrets?_

Natarii was slightly surprised to hear her feline partner answer her rambling thoughts. '**You might as well tell him, koneko*. He is the Yellow Flash after all; Minato would just find out about your dōjutsu* later and I doubt your brother would care,' Hikari advised. **Natarii looked to her brother for help and Kenshin gladly gave it. He explained the entire history behind Natarii's eyes and fighting style to the best of his knowledge.

"Long ago when the Himura's were what could be called a clan, they were feared for their unique abilities with the sword. Nobody could ever find their weakness because the Himura clan learned and used different sword styles to counterattack everyone else's. What made them so powerful, was the Himugan, named after our last name, Himura. When activated, the user is able to see chakra in the air and in and around a person's body, including all jutsus. As a result, the user is able to close off a person's tenketsu when needed. The Himugan cannot see far ranges and does not allow a near 360 degree view like the Hyuga* clan's Byakugan*. However, that is only the half of what the Himugan can do. The Himugan has two parts to it: the first changes the user's eyes from their original color, usually purple, to red. The red eyes see chakra and tenketsu and is called Hakai* (Destruction). The second changes the user's eyes from their red or original to gold. The user can see the inside of a person's body and any injuries that have occurred inside and outside the body. This also allows the user to heal these injuries, changing the color of their chakra to gold, giving it healing properties; this part is called Iyahsi*(Healing). While the clan was flourishing, every member possessed the Himugan, and everyone was able to use Hakai and Iyashi. When the Himura clan was destroyed by reasons unknown, those remaining lost the ability to use Iyashi because their hearts filled with evil and their souls had become tainted. Soon, Iyashi seemed to have been no more than legend as they could only use Hakai. Eventually, the Himugan began only appearing every so often, as the population of Himuras decreased. Natarii and I are the only known survivors of the Himura clan with Natarii being the only known user of the Himugan, both Hakai and Iyashi. The Gentle Fist style* is the fighting style used by the Hyuga Clan to attack the tenketsu of their opponents and some Himuras used this fighting style. Natarii has her own unique Gentle Fist style that she didn't fully use on you, Naruto, during your battle," Kenshin explained. Naruto gimanced as he remembered his defeat in their fight. Kenshin and Minato chuckled while Natarii gave Naruto one of her cheeky grins. Natarii remembered the yellow flash she saw before the Namikaze brothers landed in her soapy water tub.

She mustered up the courage and asked, "Minato, what is the technique you use that only shows you as a yellow flash before you instantly appear by your enemy." Minato was surprised by her sudden question, causing him to pause a bit. This gave her enough time to slink behind Kenshin, thinking she did something wrong. Minato smiled and began explaining; Natarii moved out behind her brother a little to listen intently.

" The technique or rather jutsu I created myself that allows me to travel through space and time is called Hiraishin. Hiraishin requires a specific seal that I can place on kunai, the environment, other objects , and more importantly, people. The study or practice of seals is called fūinjutsu; this type of jutsu is very complicated and takes time and patience to understand and master. Once you have mastered fūinjutsu, you can develop new seals that lead to my most used and versatile jutsu, Hiraishin. This one jutsu made it almost too easy to kill groups of people; this is how I became known as the Yellow Flash. However, I have given up on killing and choose to use my time in teaching Naruto while helping and protecting people. I've also developed another jutsu called the Rasengan, which is simply a swirling sphere of pure chakra. I can adjust the amount of chakra to change the size of the Rasengan. This jutsu is a very powerful technique and can disintegrate anything it comes in contact with. I use this jutsu to in injure, but not kill people. Mini Rasengans are not as powerful as normal ones, but still do plenty of damage," Minato explained in detail. He decided to show them just how dangerous the Rasengan was. He stuck out his hand and formed chakra in his palm that he swirled around. This resulted in a swirling ball of chakra appearing in his hand. Minato walked over to the nearest tree and pushed the sphere into the tree. The Rasengan blew through the first tree like butter and Minato made it through five more big trees before the chakra dispersed. Minato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while smiling innocently as the trees fell to pieces, shaking the ground; the loud noises created by the trees hitting the ground caused everyone to rush to the backyard, where the sounds had originated. Everyone stared at the fallen trees, then at Minato, in amazement. Naruto and Kenshin were the only two who weren't shocked, but just stood there smiling. Kaoru immediately yelled, shaking Minato in anger, causing Natarii to jump behind Naruto; Kaoru turned her attention to a smiling Kenshin. Naruto chuckled discreetly, as well as he could, while trying his best to comfort a quivering Natarii. Yahiko and Sanosuke burst out laughing, pointing at the now cowering Kenshin and Minato. Kaoru focused her glare on the two of them, immediately shutting up Yahiko and Sanosuke as they looked back at her warily.

Kaoru wasted no time in giving out orders to the group. "Minato and Kenshin, please chop up the fallen trees and do the best you can to clean up the backyard. Naruto and Natarii will finish the laundry; then prepare lunch for everyone. Yahiko, finish cleaning up the dojo, then you can train. Sanosuke you will be coming with me to catch some fish for dinner while I go shopping for future meals." She smiled sweetly at everyone, though the fire was still apparent in her eyes. Kaoru stole Naruto's and Minato's wallets as she began to hum happily to herself, pulling Sanosuke forcibly by the ear along with her. The Namikaze brother stared after her, the brains refusing to register the events the just occurred. Natarii waved her hand in front of the faces, frowning upon noticing their glazed eyes. The Yellow Flash was in front her, mind blown and his brother was too? What was this world coming to?

"She means well, even if she is stubborn and likes to take charge, that she does," Kenshin quickly defended Kaoru while snapping the Namikaze brothers out of their confusion.

Yahiko grumbled loud enough for them to hear. "More like she enjoys torturing and tormenting us with her bossy attitude and evil wooden sword." Kenshin shrugged his shoulders, the blondes laughed, and Natarii looked in the direction Kaoru and Sanosuke went, waiting for an angry Kaoru to appear. Kenshin and Minato started up another conversation as they chopped up the sword, Kenshin used his sword while Minato used wind jutsu*. Yahiko disappeared, but grumbling could still be heard from the dojo. Natarii and Naruto made their way back to the front of the dojo. The water in tub had mostly evaporated and the clothes looked dry enough to be taken down. Natarii reached for the clother but found she wasn't tall enough.

'Darn Kenshin for being taller than me,' she complained as she stretched herself as far as she could; her attempts in vain. Natarii broke out of her thoughts to find Naruto taking down the clothes as carefully as he could. Naruto smiled at her surprised expression as he brought the clothes to the porch; he began "folding" them. Natarii giggled to herself, making her way over to the goofball. Maybe being friends with the blonde in front of her wouldn't be such a bad thing.

**Asterisks:**

**Koneko: Means kitten in Japanese. I think using Japanese names for things like kitten make the words sound better.**

**Dōjutsu: These are special eye bloodlines that give users special abilities like seeing another's chakra system.**

**Hyuga: The Hyugas are a clan of Konoha that have the dōjutsu the Byakugan. They are recognized by their eyes being a pale whit color. More about their family structure will be explained later.**

**Byakugan: The dōjutsu possessed by the Hyuga Clan that allows them near 360 degree vision, being able to see up to a certain distance, and chakra systems, networks, and their tenketsu.**

**Hakai: Means destruction in Japanese and is what they fighting use(red eyes) of the Himugan is called.**

**Iyashi: Means healing in Japanese and is the healing use(gold eyes) of the Himugan is called.**

**Gentle Fist: The fighting style used by the Hyuga clan and Natarii that allows them to efficiently attack the tenketsu of their opponents. Natarii's hasn't been used yet but will be in the upcoming chapters.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry, that I haven't been updating. School and my life have been interfering with my time to update. Luckily, I am on spring break, so I have plenty of time to update more chapters. Hopefully, you guys like this story and I appreciate that some of you have followed and favorite this story. I love getting those emails **** Lastly, I don't own Kenshin or Naruto because if I did, Kenshin would have had a way better ending and Naruto and Hinata would actually be together, Sasuke would either be dead or nicer, and Naruto's dad would have been brought back to life sooner . Now on to the story!**

___'Darn Kenshin for being taller than me,' she complained as she stretched herself as far as she could; her attempts in vain. Natarii broke out of her thoughts to find Naruto taking down the clothes as carefully as he could. Naruto smiled at her surprised expression as he brought the clothes to the porch; he began "folding" them. Natarii giggled to herself, making her way over to the goofball. Maybe being friends with the blonde in front of her wouldn't be such a bad thing._

Natarii took the clothes away from Naruto and began to fold them herself.

"How about you keep me company as I fold the clothes, since you got them down for me," suggested Natarii. The blonde smiled and nodded in agreement and set about thinking of something to say. She smiled at his concentrated face while continuing to fold the laundry. Finally, Naruto snapped his fingers and yelled A-HA!

"I'll tell you all about myself. My likes, my dislikes, hobbies, interests, goals, etc."

Natarii nodded and waited patiently for him to start. Soon, he began with, "I like ramen, my brother, friends, training, fighting, winning, and sleeping. I dislike, bullies, people who take advantage of other people to fulfill their sick, twisted goals, people who act all high and mighty just because they have power in the government, people who abuse their powers, and I really dislike cleaning. I have interests in training, eating ramen, hanging out with friends, and fighting to protect or for fun. My goals are to become the strongest person in Japan and be able to beat my brother in a fight. One of my newest goals is to earn your trust and to become your friend."

Natarii smiled throughout his detailed introduction, nodding and agreeing here and there. As the blonde ended his introduction, she looked up from the clothes and looked at him in wonder.

Why are you so friendly to me, Naruto?

'Because, you seem very scared and lonely, even though you are surrounded by people. Maybe it's just because you aren't yet used to being around a lot of people,' he replied. Natarii gasped at Naruto's voice inside her head and quickly looked into his blue eyes. She saw that, in fact, Naruto had spoken to her with his mind.

'You're right, Naruto. I am not used to being surrounded by many people, but I've never been completely alone. I have been in the company of one or two people at a time in my life. I used to be pretty outgoing and social, but events in my life have changed me into a quiet and cautious person. I am not really scared, more wary. I'm always on guard and constantly aware of everything that goes around me.'

'Are you comfortable with talking to me about these events? I'll be okay if you don't want to talk about them yet.'

Natarii's violet eye filled up with tears.

'I don't want to talk about it,' she replied as images flashed through her mind*. She wiped most of the tears from her eyes, but some started sliding down her cheeks. Suddenly, Naruto's finger caught the teats and began to wipe them off her cheeks. He gave her a bright smile. She was just about to say she was sorry for crying in front of him when his finger came to her lips and he shook his head.

'No need to apologize for crying, Natarii. Everyone needs to cry sometimes, even I've cried,' Naruto admitted. The red headed girl smiled at his embarrassment and pat him on the head. She began to laugh as she made her way to the kitchen, Naruto still sitting on the porch, arms crossed with a pout on his face. Grumbling was heard outside and she knew who it belonged to. A few minutes later, Naruto came into the kitchen to find Natarii making his most favorite food in the whole wide world. RAMEN! The smell enveloped him and he began to hum in delight. Said girl turned around to find the blonde, eyes closed with a huge smile plastered on his face. She giggled and turned back around to add some noodles and vegetables to the boiling broth.

"Naruto, can you make rice balls?" Natarii asked. He nodded happily and set about making rice balls. When lunch was ready Naruto used the Kage no Bunshin no Jutsu to create two clones to tell Yahiko, Minato, and Kenshin to come and eat. The 1st Naruto clone found the back yard clean of all the fallen trees and Kenshin and Minato finishing up the last tree. A huge stack of chopped wood leaned against the back of the dojo. The clone yelled to let them know lunch was ready and then proceeded to disappear in a puff of smoke. The 2nd clone entered the dojo to find it spotless and Yahiko practicing while yelling like he was taught. The clone smiled at Yahiko's dedication and determination. The clone yelled at him about lunch and the he, too, disappeared in a puff of smoke. Yahiko stared at the place the clone used to be in surprise and quickly ran outside to find everyone, including Kaoru and Sanosuke, were sitting around waiting for his arrival.

"Naruto! What the hell was up with you and the puffs of smoke?" Yahiko demanded. All eyes turned to the goofball blonde, his face still in his bowl of ramen. He slurped up the noodles and licked his lips. He stood up and walked in front of Yahiko. Naruto formed the hand seal; soon four puffs of smoke revealed four identical clones of Naruto that stood next to the real Naruto.

Then he said, "This is the Kage no Bunshin no Jutsu, a forbidden jutsu. This is because you are literally dividing parts of chakra into real life clones of yourself. If you have low amounts of chakra and try to create many clones, you suffer from chakra exhaustion and can possible die. Fortunately, I have huge amounts of chakra, so many clones is nothing,"

Yahiko's eyes sparkled and all of the Narutos smiled cockily while everyone else just sighed. The blonde ninja dispelled the clones and he and Yahiko chomped down on tons of ramen. After half of the pot was gone, Natarii zapped their hands and shook her head. Lunch continued with everyone talking and laughing, except the teenage boys, who sat in silence with pouty faces. Eventually, the food was eaten and Natarii and Kaoru cleaned up and washed dishes, while the boys, minus Kenshin, started a little brawl of sorts. The first fight was Naruto against Yahiko. Yahiko threw a punch at Naruto, but was blocked by his hand. The young teen tried again with his other hand and ended up with his hands being enclosed Naruto's hands, both pushing against each other. Yahiko kicked Naruto's legs out from under him and landed on top of him as they both fell to the ground. Yahiko began punching Naruto everywhere he could. This went on for a few minutes, Yahiko's punches being blocked by Naruto. Soon, the boy began to tire and that was all the opportunity our blonde ninja needed to throw a quick charka punch into Yahiko's stomach, making him kneel over. Naruto threw Yahiko off him and stood over the groaning and coughing boy.

"In order to win long fights, you need high stamina. I won because you tired out quickly, allowing me to break your guard and wound you. If we continue to spar, your stamina will increase and you will become a better fighter as well as a better swordsman. Also, never forget to practice you swordsmanship and you will become strong, though I believe you will never forget. Now, let's get you to Rii-chan and she will ease your pain a bit," Naruto explained with an unusual serious tone in his voice. He lifted Yahiko to his feet and helped him into the house. Naruto went back outside to watch Minato and Sanosuke fight, leaving Yahiko with Natarii. Unbeknownst to anyone, she healed Yahiko's stomach with her chakra instead of the usual wrapping up the wounds with the bandages. The apprentice swordsman pretended he saw nothing after seeing her pleading look that she gave him. They watched the coming fight through the window, interest peaking in their minds. The Yellow Flash versus Sanza, a fight worth seeing. She just hoped they didn't kill themselves.

**Natarii's past is not normal in any way, shape, or form. Her childhood will come out later. Be prepared, because it isn't entirely pretty.**

**In case you are wondering, I'm trying to keep Naruto's personality the same. Yes, he may seem more perceptive than normal, but I have always wanted him to be less dense and since this is my fanfiction, I can do whatever I want. Hahahahaa…yeah, okay you get the point and I will stop being crazy now. Reviews are again appreciated and I love you guys for taking the time to read my story.**


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys! Thanks for reading my story, it really means a lot to me that people are actually reading something I wrote. Anyway, I don't own Kenshin or Naruto, though it would be cool if I did.**

___Naruto went back outside to watch Minato and Sanosuke fight, leaving Yahiko with Natarii. Unbeknownst to anyone, she healed Yahiko's stomach with her chakra instead of the usual wrapping up the wounds with the bandages. The apprentice swordsman pretended he saw nothing after seeing her pleading look that she gave him. They watched the coming fight through the window, interest peaking in their minds. The Yellow Flash versus Sanza, a fight worth seeing. She just hoped they didn't kill themselves._

Sanosuke wanted to fight Minato ever since he showed up with his little brother at the Kamiya Dojo. Especially after he watch him us the Rasengan and destroy 5 trees in a row. Sanosuke gave Minato his ready-for-fighting smile and began throwing a series of punches at Minato. He wasn't surprised that said blonde had dodged or blocked all of them. Minato didn't seem to be taking their spar very seriously and Sanosuke wanted to see why people called him the Yellow Flash. Unfortunately, Sanosuke didn't know how to get Minato to take this fight seriously, that is until he noticed yellow out of the corner of his eye. Maybe if I put Naruto in a sticky situation, Minato might step in and take me more seriously. As he blocked Minato's half-hearted punches, Sanosuke could tell that he should be able to pick up the ninja fairly easily. In one fluid motion, Sanosuke dodged a punch before he swept Minato up over his head and threw him toward Naruto. The goofball blonde had been thinking and lazily watching the clouds; he never had a chance. Minato crashed into him sending them both to the ground. The dust cleared and Minato looked down in the eyes of Naruto. The Namikaze brothers gave identical cheeky smiles to each other. As Minato rolled of him, Naruto swore quietly; the older of the two bent down as Naruto sat up.

"Are you hurt?" Minato asked. Naruto shook his head and attempted to hide a grimace as he took in a breath. To Minato, it appeared that Naruto had either brusied or broken ribs, probably broken.

Naruto assured him. "I'm fine really. Just didn't expect you to land on me so suddenly." Both brothers looked at Sanosuke who was smiling back at them as if he hadn't just thrown the Yellow Flash at his younger brother. "Why is he smiling like that?"

"Apparently, I wasn't taking our little spar serious enough for Sanousuke so he decided to mix things up by throwing me at you," Minato replied. Naruto glared at Sanosuke before throwing a look at Minato, silently telling him to show him serious. Minato chuckled, before turning around and blocking a punch thrown at him by Sanosuke, who had been getting bored. Minato ducked under another punch and pushed his right hand, open palm, into Sanosuke's stomach. It distracted the fighter for hire long enough for the Yellow Flash to jump away, avoiding a punch thrown to the ground that left a small crater in its wake. Minato jumped onto a tree branch and looked down at Sanosuke as he formed a small Rasengan. Minato jumped up into the air, and started to dive toward the brown-haired man. Sanosuke seeing this, jumped far enough away so Minato couldn't land on top of him. Unfortuantely, Minato appeared in front of him and thrust the Rasengan into his stomach, sending him flying into a nearby tree. Sanosuke stood up and clutched his stomach, blood flowing through his fingers and dripping onto the ground. His sight went blurry and his whole body was screaming at him to stop, but he wouldn't. Sanosuke would never, ever give up as long as he had something to fight for, be it his pride, his goals, or his friends. He stumbled forward a few steps, before his body shut down. The ground came closer; he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the pain besides his burning stomach. It never came. Confused, Sanosuke opened his eyes to see a familiar pair of purple eyes staring at him concerned. Next came two pairs of blue eyes, one looked concerned, the other looked guilty. Sanousuke growled and heaved himself off the ground with his remaining strength, leaning on Kenshin for support.

As they began heading toward the house, Sanosuke whispered, "Thanks, Kenshin," to which Kenshin just smiled and nodded. The swordsman led Sanosuke into his room and helped him lay down. Sanosuke, finally able to stop moving, welcomed the darkness and slipped into unconsciousness. Kenshin rushed to find Natarii outside with a yelling Kaoru. Minato was desperately trying to calm her down, avoiding her swings with her wooden sword; though he felt that he deserved them. Natarii had stopped watching the battle after Naruto had been brought to the ground by Minato and began to help Kaoru around the house. She noticed the blood and had been looking around for Sanosuke when she saw Kenshin with a panicked face.

"Miss Kaoru, Natarii. I need you to come and look at Sanosuke quickly," he pleaded. Kaoru stopped her assault on Minato and followed Natarii into Sanosuke's room. The blood was still freely flowing out of the pale, unconscious man's stomach; Natarii began to work on closing the wound. Everyone watched as her palm glowed gold with chakra and she began to heal Sanosuke. Yahiko noticed it was the same color of chakra that she had used to heal his minor wounds. After a few minutes, Kaoru took Yahiko to train and Minato and Kenshin left to finish up around the house, leaving Naruto alone with Natarii. Again. She didn't take her eyes off Sanosuke's wound, but she could tell Naruto wanted some explanations.

"The Rasengan was a small one, but for whatever reason, Minato pushed more chakra into the impact when the Rasengan hit Sanosuke; this resulted in a deeper wound. Not only did the Rasengan destroy his skin, the force and the chakra went all the way to his spine, leaving a huge whole and a damaged spine with its connected nerves and tendons destroyed. I'm very surprised Sanosuke was able to walk, or even stand after that. Then again, he doesn't give up. About the color of my chakra, well, I don't feel like explaining it right now. The story behind it is both sweet and sad at the same time," Natarii answered. Naruto looked at Sanosuke's face and back at Natarii's as she began to speak again. "To make things worse, Sanosuke has lost a lot of blood. Luckily for him, my blood is O positive and I can give blood to anyone. I am going to do a blood transfusion through my chakra into his system using a jutsu I created that makes it easier to for medics to do their job. I focus my chakra in a certain spot in my arms that is near those veins. The chakra acts like a needle and punctures my vein to allow blood to flow through the chakra, mixing with it. My blood-filled chakra will be transferred to Sanouske, both healing him and giving blood to him*," she explained. Naruto watched as her chakra became orange, indicating blood was in it. Sanosuke's pale sking started to return to its normal color, while Natarii's slowly began to lose its color. Naruto cleaned up the blood and watched as she began to push herself to exhaustion.

"Natarii, maybe you should-"

"I'm not done yet, Naruto. The blood transfusion is complete while his stomach and the skin protecting it is repaired, but I still have to fix his spine." Natarii hated lying, but she didn't want her blonde friend worrying about her. "Why don't you go teach Yahiko that forbidden jutsu that you love to use. I'm sure it will help lighten the mood and besides, Sanosuke is going to be just fine," Natarii suggested. Her suggestion worked like a charm as Naruto left her, the fire back in his eyes at the prospect of training. The red-haired jinchurriki sighed in relief and settled on fixing Sanosuke, no matter the cost. She would fix her friend, even if she didn't survive to see his brown eyes again.

**About her jutsu: I think it makes blood transfusion way easier using the chakra you already heal people with to use as a vessel for the blood to get into the system. I don't have a name for it yet.**

**And I think Yahiko learning the Kage no Bunshin no Jutsu would greatly improve his abilities and make him stronger. See you later, my awesome readers!**


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey guys! I have quite the interesting explanation for you as to why I haven't posted any updates in like four months. First off, I wasn't sure whether or not I would continue this story or not. I do love writing but I didn't think if any of you were actually liking what I wrote or not. Then I had school and preparing for exams(no excuse though). The other day however, I got an email saying someone favorited my story and me. I was shocked to say the least that someone favorited me! Thank you inuboy86, kelleyg137, demonzone2571, and zero kuran2 for giving me the confidence to keep writing. So hear it is! My fifth chapter is now up. I also don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin.**

___"Why don't you go teach Yahiko that forbidden jutsu that you love to use? I'm sure it will help lighten the mood and besides, Sanosuke is going to be just fine," Natarii suggested. Her suggestion worked like a charm as Naruto left her, the fire back in his eyes at the prospect of training. The red-haired jinchūriki sighed in relief and settled on fixing Sanosuke, no matter the cost. She would fix her friend, even if she didn't survive to see his brown eyes again._

The next morning, Sanosuke opened his eyes to hear birds chirping and the sun shining through the window. He sat up, surprised he didn't feel any pain after his fight from yesterday. Sanosuke spotted a figure next to him and noticed the red hair. It was Natarii, or Little Red, as he called her. She was sleeping and while her face looked peaceful, her appearance looked anything but peaceful. Her skin was as white as the snow and her clothes were covered in blood. Sanosuke immediately thought she might have gotten into a fight, but he realized that the blood on her hands and clothes was his. Little Red had fixed him up! He smiled at her sleeping form and decided to let her rest. The fighter for hire walked out of his room to collide with a hyper Naruto. The blonde shinobi looked up to see a healthy Sanosuke looking down at him.

"Hey there Whiskers! Little Red is inside my room sleeping, but you can try to wake her up. Say, breakfast ready yet?" Sanosuke rambled.

Naruto replied, "Okay thanks and yeah, breakfast is almost ready."

Sanosuke cheered and ran off to find the others. Naruto walked inside Sanosuke's room to find Natarii in the same place and position that Sanosuke had found her. He knelt down beside her and shook her gently. No response. He shook her a little harder. Still nothing. "Rii-chan, it's time to wake up."

Natarii rolled over and mumbled something that sounded like, "Stupid boys."

"Don't you want to eat breakfast?"

She shook her head no, but then her stomach grumbled, indicating that she was hungry. "Please?" was the next attempt from the blonde ninja.

The red head opened her eye to see Naruto giving her the best puppy dog face he could muster. Which must have been pretty good, as Natarii growled at him, pushed the blanket off her, and sat up. Task successful. Next, she hopped to her feet and began walking. Her vision became a little blurry and her head spun as she began to fall. Luckily, Naruto had quick reflexes and caught her before she even got close to the ground.

"How long did you work on fixing Sanosuke?" he asked. She didn't meet his eyes and wouldn't answer. He sighed. "Tell me please why you are unable to walk without coming close to passing out and why your skin is very white."

Natarii, her eyes still not looking at her friend, whispered, "The blood transfusion required a lot more blood then I originally thought and I didn't fully realize it until I had finished healing Sanosuke early this morning."

Naruto had noticed her blood-stained clothes and decided to do something about it. "Stay here and don't move a muscle until I get back with some new clothes for you."

He made sure she could stand by herself before rushing quickly out of the room. The red head obeyed his orders because she felt extremely guilty for lying to him. She was afraid he was mad at her. Naruto was not angry at all, just very concerned for his new friend which made him find her clothes faster. After several minutes of finding nothing and not wanting to ask for help, Naruto grabbed his spare outfit and returned to Sanosuke's room. The jinchūriki gave her his clothes and quickly left the room to allow her to change. Natarii didn't mind the clothes as they were quite comfy even though they were big on her. She called out to Naruto and he came back into the room to find the blood-stained clothes in a pile on the floor and Natarii wearing his spare outfit. He watched her meet his eyes this time as she thanked him for the clothes but he could see she was feeling guilty. Naruto inwardly sighed as he went over to her and placed the girl on his back, earning a little squeak and a weak slap to the head. Natarii began to protest and struggle against him, but he would have none of it.

"You can barely stand, let alone walk, without nearly fainting. You need to get better and I will help you do whatever needs to be done for you to feel better." the blonde responded. Natarii immediately stopped struggling and let herself be carried out to the front, where everyone was eating. Naruto and Natarii were met with a few surprised/interested looks and greetings as well as plates of steaming, delicious food. Naruto set Natarii down and waited for her to get comfortable before sitting down next to her. The teenagers listened to the conversation as they ate their food.

"I've been hearing word of an assassin from the war who has been murdering Imperialist officials from the Mejii government. He seems to be quite skilled at swordsmanship, just like our Kenshin here," Sanosuke started. Minato and Kenshin didn't sound the least bit happy at hearing of a murderer in Tokyo, Kaoru looked a little afraid, Naruto and Yahiko were excited at the prospect of fighting him, and Natarii didn't show any emotion towards the conversation.

"I'm surprised that no one from the police has asked us to help out," Minato pondered.

"I don't mind that much. I'm just happy Kaoru's food tastes decent this time," replied Sanosuke. An angry Kaoru began throwing food at Sanosuke who had taken Kenshin and used him as a shield. Yahiko and Minato quickly left their side and went over to Natarii and Naruto, who were laughing at the whole thing. They watched as Sanosuke and Kenshin dodged the food until Sanosuke stopped moving and Kenshin got hit with food multiple times in the head. The group laughed until Kaoru turned her attention on them. She began to throw food at Yahiko who then used Minato as a shield. Naruto had moved himself and Natarii to Kenshin and Sanosuke just as a policeman stood at the entrance to the dojo. Kaoru immediately stopped throwing food and she gathered with Minato and Yahiko at the entrance as everyone recognized him to be the Police Chief.

"I am sorry to bother you like this. But I need the assistance of Mr. Himura and Mr. Namikaze," explained the Police Chief.

"It is not a bother at all, sir. Minato and I will need to hear the full details of the request if that is possible," Kenshin replied politely. Everyone headed into the dojo to listen to the Police Chief.

"This is a huge federal problem that has been kept from the newspapers for ten years. I need to you two to defeat a serial killer. His name is Kurogasa and he has been attacking Imperialists for these ten years; first he tells them when he is going to kill, then he slices through the police guards, and finally proceeds to slaughter the Imperialist official," the Police Chief explained to the group, noticing that they didn't look at all surprised by his request or information.

"We were just talking about the serial killer, sir, and Minato and I will help accept your request seeing as though this man called Kurogasa appears to be a manslayer from the revolution like ourselves who cannot stop being one."

"Thank you very much. You will meet me at Mr. Tani's mansion tonight. Kurogasa is supposed to strike tonight at midnight. Thank you again and farewell."

The Police Chief left the dojo, leaving the Kenshin-Namikaze group to prepare for the upcoming event. Kaoru recovered quickly and began ordering everyone around. "Minato, I need you to run some errands for me, Kenshin, you will help with laundry, Yahiko will clean the dojo, I will clean up breakfast, Sanosuke will go out and fish again, Naruto, you will take care of Natarii, and Natarii, please don't cause to much fuss with Naruto helping you."

Minato quickly left the dojo after getting the list of errands from Kaoru. Yahiko tried the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and managed to make three perfect clones of himself, though he looked winded and tired. Everyone else cheered for him, giving him more energy and adding to his pride. Yahiko and his clones went into the dojo to begin cleaning it. Kenshin began the laundry, humming to himself, while Kaoru started to clean up breakfast, and Sanosuke went off to fish. Naruto had studied Natarii the entire time during the Police Chief's explanations and he noticed that the color had returned to her skin, making her look normal. However, he also noticed that she looked very tired with dark circles under her eyes. When he asked her about it she replied with "I didn't sleep very well this morning."

He knew something more was going on, most likely with her past, but he wouldn't pressure her to tell him. So instead he settled for putting her on his back after a little protesting by Natarii and jumped into the trees, hopping from branch to branch. This caused Natarii to squeeze him tighter and tighter with each hop he took. "Don't you jump from trees to trees?" Naruto asked. She mumbled a no but eventually began to relax. Soon they came to a clearing. There was lush, green grass and the wind was blowing softly, rustling Naruto's hair and move some of Natarii's ponytail. The red head hopped off Naruto's back and ran toward the clearing, giggling in delight. Naruto quickly caught up to her and watched her with concern. She shrugged off his attempts on trying to settle her down, preferring to twirl and dance around in the clearing. Soon, however, her fatigue caught up with her and she had to settle for lying on the soft grass with Naruto next to her. They chatted about the weather and the day's previous events before Naruto asked her a question. "Since I told you about my likes, dislikes, hobbies, interests, and goals, can you tell me about yours?" he asked. This question surprised her and she didn't know if she should tell him or not.

'**You can tell him about yourself minus your past, koneko. I don't think you are quite ready to talk about your past to anyone but telling him about what other things might help you in the long run. Plus, he likes you, you like him. It's a win win!**' Hikari spoke.

'Hikari-nee! I do not like Naruto that way!' she replied with a slight blush forming on her cheeks. Hikari chuckled in her mind before ending the mental link and this had given Natarii enough time to feel better about answering his question.

"I like cooking, drawing, writing, training, my brother, and my friends. I dislike bullies, fighting unless I have to, people who abuse their power in government or just in general, people who think they are better than everyone else, and people who hate things just because they don't understand them. I enjoy drawing and humming to myself while I draw, I like to watch clouds, and my goal is to be the best I can be so that I can protect my family and friends," Natarii replied. Naruto nodded satisfied with his answer. The jinchūriki watched the clouds up at the sky for a few minutes until Naruto had an idea. He jumped to his feet quickly, very pumped and excited for he was going to do.

"I have the greatest idea! You wanna hear it?" he asked Natarii. After she nodded her head in interest, he continued. "I am going to teach you the Rasengan! It is going to be so awesome when you use it and surprise everyone!"

Natarii laughed at his excitement and decided that it would be cool to learn how to use the Rasengan. "I would love to learn the Rasengan. So how do I learn it?"

"There are three steps. 1. Pop a balloon. In order to this, you will have to rotate chakra in your palm with speed and force. 2. You will do the same thing, but with a rubber ball (hehe). So it will require more speed and power. The last step is using the same method you used to pop the balloon and rubber ball to create the sphere of chakra. Since you have super sweet chakra control, this should be a piece of cake!" he explained. Unfortunately they didn't have any balloons or rubber balls- hahahaha ;)- The teens headed off into town, Naruto carrying Natarii again because he insisted on it and she really wanted to learn the Rasengan. As they made it into town, the teens ran into Sanosuke who had managed to catch a bunch of fish for upcoming meals. "What are you guys up to?" Sanosuke asked, noticing their excitement. Natarii was about to answer his question when Naruto twisted around and rapidly covered her mouth.

"Something super cool that you can't know about yet. It's a surprise/secret," Naruto quickly replied before running off toward the markets. Sanosuke chuckled to himself as he watched them take off. The pair friends bought a few balloons and rubber balls(still funny) and headed back to the Secret Clearing, as they called it, to begin the Rasengan training. Within a few minutes, Natarii had mastered the first step, popping the three balloons they had gotten. Step 2 took about a half hour before she finally got it. Then she blew up the other four rubber balls ease. The last and final step was obviously much harder than the previous two, but she attempted it nonetheless. After an hour of not much progress, the red-haired jinchūriki had an idea. Natarii proceeded to create fifty clones that all began working on creating a Rasengan, while she sparred with Naruto. He was hesitant to spar against her at first, but he gave in after she used her puppy dog face on him. A few hours later, Natarii had mastered the Rasengan and both she and Naruto had improved their taijutsu, ninjutsu, and stamina. The now exhausted duo collapsed to the ground and watched the clouds before eventually falling asleep. As dinner time approached a few more hours late, Minato teleported to his brother to find Naruto and Natarii asleep. He noticed that Naruto's arms were around Natarii, as if he instinctively moved closer to her. The older Namikaze smiled at the sleeping pair, not wanting to wake them up, but he knew Naruto would not want to miss dinner. He woke up his brother first. The blonde jinchūriki quickly let go of Natarii after realizing what he had been doing and blushed madly, causing Minato to laugh. This led to Natarii waking up confused by Naruto's red face and Minato's laughter. She got no explanation, but was instead teleported back to the dojo with the Namikaze brothers. The younger Himura tried to pester her blonder friend, as he would avoid answering her question. She eventually stopped as dinner was ready and it was time to eat. Natarii sat between Naruto and Sanosuke, listen quietly as Minato and Kenshin went over the plan for the mansion tonight.

"Minato, Sanosuke, and I will head over to the mansion to protect Mr. Tani," Kenshin began, but was interrupted by Naruto.

"What about me and Natarii? We wanna go too!" he shouted.

"Hey! I wanna go!" Yahiko chirped in.

"You shrimps are too young to join in," Sanosuke smugly answered.

"You are only FOUR years older than me!" Naruto angrily replied. The bickering continued; Minato and Kenshin tried to stop the argument when Kaoru joined in on it. The group silenced immediately when the only quiet person in the conversation spoke.

"Our job, Naruto and Yahiko, is to protect the dojo. This place is our home. If it falls, we have no place to live. No place to train or to hang out. We must protect our home with everything we've got," Natarii explained. Naruto and Yahiko agreed with her after thinking about it. Minato and Kenshin sighed in relief and Kaoru smiled triumphantly, causing Natarii to laugh quietly; only Naruto and Sanosuke heard her laughter. Dinner finished with more laughs and conversations.

**A few hours later:**

Sanosuke, Kenshin, and Minato left for the mansion and the rest of the Kenshin-Namikaze group stood guard at the dojo. Soon after they left, Kaoru and Yahiko were beginning to doze off. The red-haired jinchūriki kindly asked them to go to bed and she and Naruto would stay awake and keep watch. Natarii soon found herself alone with Naruto once again. Funny how that always seemed to happen. The teens sat quietly together, watching every little movement around them. The silence didn't last long, though, because Naruto got bored. And when Naruto gets bored, he finds something much better to do than what he is currently doing. Like asking his friend a bunch of question. He began with, "What's your favorite food?"

She answered, "Anything, really. But lately I have been enjoying ramen the most."

The blonde jinchūriki beamed before asking, "What is your birthday?"

"November 24th," she replied.

"Ha Ha! I am older than you!"

"Well, then you are going to die before me since you are older!" Natarii retorted. Naruto stopped his cheering and stared at her, realizing she was right. Natarii noticed his down expression and said, "Well maybe we will die at the same time."

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up after you hurt my feelings, meanie," Naruto replied with a pouty face, making Natarii giggle.

"I'm sorry Naruto. You can continue to ask me questions if you want," she compromised.

"Sweet! What is your favorite color or colors?"

"Purple, black, orange."

This went on for a few more minutes with Naruto learning that her favorite animls were cats and foxes, she had been drawing since she could hold a pencil, and she thought he was cute. That last one took a lot of prodding and making Natarii blush. Then the blonde decided to ask her a more personal question. "Why are you always shy?" he wondered. Surprised by the question, Natarii didn't answer for a minute.

'Hikari-nee! What do I do?' she frantically asked her feline partner.

'**Tell him what you feel comfortable saying, but don't make anything up**,' Hikari advised. Satisfied with her answer, the red-haired jinchurriki though of an answer to her blonder friend's question.

"I used to be very out going and very confident. I was always upbeat and happy. Unfortunately, as you know, my past was pretty terrible. So because of my childhood, I have become quiet and I keep to myself. I have become very shut off from speaking about myself and I am not good at making friends," the younger Himura explained. I knew from meeting her that something had affected her strongly, but never as bad as she just said. Naruto immediately felt bad when he saw the tears forming in her eyes. Realizing she was tearing up, quickly wiped her eyes and smiled a watery smile because she saw how bad Naruto felt. "I'm okay. You don't have to apologize for the question. You wanted to know and it is about time for me to begin to talk about myself and my past," she said, trying to make him feel better. As they shared a smile, two figures appeared in front of them. The teens stood up and got in their fighting stance, prepared for anything. The taller figure was male with a black sleeveless shirt, black pants, black sandals, white bandages wrapped around his nose, mouth, and neck, a black headband tied to the side of his head with gray socks and long gloves, a huge sword strapped to his back, and he had black hair and cold black eyes. The second figure appeared to be male but had a feminine grace with a light brown turtleneck covered with a blue robe with white on sleeves and where the turtleneck is shown, a brown belt around the waist, light brown shorts and sandals, a white mask with red markings covering the face, and the he had brown hair. The jinchūriki recognized the taller figure to be Zabuza Momoichi, one of the Legendary Seven Swordsman of Kiri*.

"We are looking for the Yellow Flash and we heard he is currently staying here," Zabuza announced.

Naruto quickly responded, "He is not here right now and I do not know where he is either."

"You are the Yellow Flash's younger brother, are you not?" the masked shinobi asked.

"Yes I am."

"Then you should know where your own brother is!" Zabuza growled.

"I don't know where he is all the time. He rushes around like his name implies," Naruto replied. This in turn caused Zabuza to step forward and pull his sword from his back. Naruto and Natarii tensed, anticipating a fight to break out; Naruto was smiling, excited for the fight, and Natarii was cautiously watching them, no emotion on her face. The masked shinobi stepped in front of Zabuza, blocking his view of the blonde brat.

"Zabuza-san, we are only looking for the Yellow Flash, not his brother. There is no need to fight these kids," he calmly reasoned. Zabuza finally put his sword away after having a staredown with the masked shinobi.

"Fine, Haku. You tell your brother we will be back, brat," Zabuza threatened before he and the newly named Haku jumped into the trees and disappeared. The duo relaxed after they were sure their new enemies left. Just great. Now we have more problems. Why do they want Minato? I sure hope and Kenshin and the others are doing okay.

**AN: Kiri is the Hidden Mist Village from the show Naruto. In this story, it is a town like Konoha. Thank you again for reading my story. Until next time!**


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